“If a few thousand cross breeds [come] from the lab, we can screen them based on the marker and just select the ones that have the marker that you search for,” says Wart van Zonneveld, Floricultura’s research and development manager.
“It’s an indication of a certain trait that you want or you do not want, depending on what’s easier to find.”
So-called “novel breeding techniques” are a closely-guarded secret. Each company develops its own genetic markers and processes because that’s what allows them to develop unique varieties.
“We keep it to ourselves because it’s lots of investment,” van Zonneveld says.
“It’s still breeding, you have to make a cross, and we cannot just pick out a piece of DNA and put it back that easily,” says Paul Arens, ornamental plant breeding researcher at the Netherlands’ Wageningen University.
He and his colleagues have carried out research for a Dutch government backed initiative that shares information with participating companies.
“The foundation is still what we are doing for 100 years already. You take two plants, you look at their characteristics, and you make a cross. But [the breeders] have white lab coats, [and] they’re doing all kinds of research with markers, with genomics, on plant health.”
Genetic markers are used to identify favorable traits in orchid plants
READ MORE ON THE NEXT PAGE…
